While YPT have traditionally visited a lot of weird-beard places on our Japan tours, we had not yet managed to fit a maid cafe in. Well, that has now been rectified with our visit to the legend that is Maidreamin.
I discovered this super-brand from TikTok videos and therefore headed into a branch, all in the name of research! So what’s it like visiting Maidreamin and maid cafes in general? Well, sometimes be careful what you wish for.
Table of Contents
The Maidreamin Story
Maidreamin is one of Japan’s biggest maid cafe chains, operated by Neodelight International. The first cafe opened in Akihabara, Tokyo, in 2008, and the company has since expanded across Japan and overseas, with branches in Thailand and South Korea – yeah more on that later!
Maid cafes developed out of Japan’s otaku culture, particularly in Akihabara, the Tokyo district famous for anime, manga, gaming and electronics. The concept is pretty simple: staff dress as maids, welcome customers as masters and mistresses, and serve food and drinks with a healthy dose of theatrical performance. Think cosplay meets themed restaurant, with a little bit of Japanese kawaii culture thrown and you some pervs too all mixed together.
Maidreamin takes this concept and turns it into a full entertainment experience, with colourful food, elaborate drinks, performances and the famous little rituals that accompany your order. The maids may sing, dance or perform magical incantations over your meal, all designed to make the experience as over-the-top as possible.
The brand has also become a TikTok phenomenon, with videos of its energetic performances, cute dishes and enthusiastic staff attracting millions of views. And fair play as they have made a real freaking brand out of this. And the marketing obviously works, as we quite literally came here.
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How Much Does Maidreamin Cost?
As things go, Maidreamin and maid cafes in general are actually relatively cheap, not Southeast Asia cheap, but, you know, first-world cheap. This, though, is more related to the drastic fall of the yen and overall Japanese economic stagnation. Yep, now is the time to visit Japan.
So, how much does visiting a maid cafe cost? Well, there are basically different tiers and offers available. Overall, though, you pay about $6 for entry and then need to get food and drinks, or you can do all-you-can-drink packages. These vary with times, prices and the like and are not without their problems. This I will detail after.
Entry
- Standard adult entry, per hour: ¥880 ($6).
- Adults aged 60 and over: ¥440 ($3).
- College and vocational students: ¥660 ($4.50).
- Junior high and high school students: ¥550 ($3.70).
- Elementary school students: ¥330 ($2.20).
- Children below elementary school age: Free.
Food
- Omelette rice: ¥1,450 ($10).
- Animal parfait: ¥1,250 ($8).
- Matcha pancakes: ¥1,700 ($11).
- Hamburger steak: ¥1,800 ($12).
- Kumatan curry: ¥1,600 ($11).
- Kumatan omelette rice: ¥2,400 ($16).
Maidreamin HYPER All-You-Can-Drink Packages
- 60 minutes of all-you-can-drink: ¥3,800 ($25).
- All-you-can-drink until 11 pm: ¥6,000 ($40).
- One drink per hour: ¥2,500 ($17).
These HYPER prices apply from 8 pm until closing. The longer all-you-can-drink package is cheaper if you arrive by 9:30 pm. Entry after 10:30 pm is ¥2,500 ($17), including one drink.
Dollar prices are indicative obviously and change with the Yen which is volatile at best!
What is it Actually Like to Visit Maidreamin?
OK, so let’s deal with the elephant in the room: a maid cafe is a bit of a weird, niche, kitsch thing. It is not, though, in any way related to the sex industry. When I was there, so were lots of tourists. There were also a whole heap of single Japanese men too, so, you know, horses for courses.
As for the ambience, atmosphere and performance, it was actually equal parts cool, funny and a wee bit camp. The only issue for me, at least, was the end service. Basically, we’d paid for an hour of all-you-can-drink but got 40 minutes. This I could cope with, but that they wouldn’t let me use the toilet afterwards was not particularly cool. This, though, is Japan and you just gotta take the roughs with the smooths!
Where Can You Find Maidreamin?
Maidreamin has 21 physical locations worldwide, including branches across Japan, Thailand and South Korea. The locations are as follows.
Tokyo: Akihabara
- Akihabara Head Store: 3-16-17 Sotokanda, Sumiyoshi Building, 6F, Chiyoda-ku.
- Akihabara AKIBA: 1-8-4 Sotokanda, Zeniya Building, 3F, Chiyoda-ku.
- Akihabara Idol-dori Store: 4-4-2 Sotokanda, Kyoeki Sotokanda Building, 4F, Chiyoda-ku.
- Akihabara Electric Town-exit Store: 1-14-1 Sotokanda, Takarada Chuo-dori Building, Chiyoda-ku.
- Akihabara Chuo-dori Store: Akihabara Chuo-dori, Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku.
- LIVE RESTAURANT Heaven’s Gate: Akihabara, Chiyoda-ku.
- Akihabara Sotokanda 1-Chome Store: Sotokanda 1-chome, Chiyoda-ku.
Tokyo: Other locations
- Shinjuku East-exit Store: Shinjuku 3-chome, Shinjuku-ku.
- Shinjuku Store: Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku.
- Shibuya SHIBUYA: Udagawacho, Shibuya-ku.
- Ikebukuro Sunshine-dori Store: Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku.
Nagoya
- Osu Manekineko Store: Osu, Nagoya.
- Osu Akamon-dori Store: Osu Akamon-dori, Nagoya.
Osaka
- Osaka Namba Store: Namba, Osaka.
- Osaka Nipponbashi Otaroad Store: Nipponbashi Otaroad, Osaka.
Hokkaido
- Sapporo Tanukikoji Store: Tanukikoji, Sapporo.
Fukuoka
- Kokura AruaruCity Store: AruaruCity, Kokura, Kitakyushu.
- Tenjin Nishi-dori Store: Tenjin Nishi-dori, Fukuoka.
Thailand
- MBK Store: MBK Center, 7th floor, Bangkok.
- Future Park Store: Zpell, 3rd floor, Future Park Rangsit, Pathum Thani.
South Korea
- Hongdae Store: 28-1 Jandari-ro 6-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul.
We took our group to the one in Shinjuku, yes, that Shinjuku which is the “best”, or at least the most authentic place. And yes, you read that right: they are also in Thailand and even Korea. Well, the South that is, there are still no maid cafes in Pyongyang.
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